1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates a retractable photographic lens which can retract to make the length thereof shorter than that in a ready-to-photograph state when no picture taking is carried out.
2. Description of the Related Art
Miniaturization of cameras is ever continuous, and therefore, miniaturization of retractable photographic lenses for cameras, which retract to reduce the length thereof in a non-operating state, has been in increasing demand. As a solution to meet this demand, the assignee of the present invention has proposed a retractable lens which is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,978,089 (U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/368,342). This retractable lens is characterized in that a plurality of optical elements of a photographing optical system are aligned with an optical axis in a ready-to-photograph state, and that a part of the plurality of optical elements is radially-retracted to a position (radially-retracted position) deviating from the optical axis of the remaining optical elements while being retracted, together with remaining optical elements on the optical axis thereof, in the direction of the optical axis of the photographing optical system when the photographic lens is fully retracted.